KABUL, May 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Living in Shinwar district of eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, 32-year-old Mohammad Basir Abid said, he is still haunted by the deadly operations in Afghanistan, carried out by U.S. troops over the past 20 years.
“It was midnight Jan 13, 2017, and I was in my bed when the blast of the house’s gate threw me away from my bed, and I saw American soldiers, including some women entering the house, using laser and gunshots in all rooms,” Abid said.
“The U.S. soldiers first detonated the gate of our house, and after entering the house, started barbaric shooting, killing six members of the family and injuring three others, including my father,” he lamented.
Abid told Xinhua that, the six victims were all children, and the survivors have yet to recover from mental health problems.
“Our children are still afraid and crying when they hear gunshots, gunfights or explosions,” he muttered, adding, the children “can’t go to school, even after four years have passed since the terrifying scene.”
The U.S. troops invaded the country, following the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001. Since then, they have caused more than 30,000 civilian deaths, injured more than 60,000, and caused about 11 million people to become refugees.
While the security situation in Afghanistan remains complicated and terrorism keeps festering, U.S. President, Joe Biden, announced in mid-Apr, all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before Sept 11.
The military presence of the troops in Afghanistan is “a failure and useless,” Abid said.
Abid is not the only Afghan suffering from the so-called “friendly fire” the troops have launched in the last two decades.
An 18-year-old boy, living in Nangarhar’s Ghani Khil district, who only gave his first name as Khayaludin, told Xinhua that it was late night, a few years ago, when the U.S. troops entered his house and “began indiscriminate shooting on the walls and doors.”
Apart from shooting at each corner of the house, the troops also threw hand grenades, the teenager said, adding, he was too terrified to “remember more” about what happened to his family members.
According to media reports, the “friendly fire” struck a wedding party in southern Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province in July, 2002, claiming 30 lives and injuring around 40 people.
They also encroached upon a wedding party in Shinwar’s neighbouring district, Haska Mina, in July 2008, killing more than 40 civilians, including the bride, the groom and some women and children.
Moreover, they claimed countless lives from Afghan defence and security forces. For example, in mid-2017, 16 policemen were killed, during an aerial operation in Gereshk district of southern Helmand province.
“Afghans are still burning in the flames of war, initiated by the U.S., and the U.S. left Afghanistan after 20 years of military presence, without any comprehensive formula to end the war in our country,” Abid said.– NNN-XINHUA
